Aveeno and Summer Rayne Oakes Plant A Forest In Times Square

by Laurel_Pantin

Photo Courtesy of RPR

Photo Courtesy of RPR

This April, the drizzly weather is bringing more than just flowers! Last week Aveeno launched the Active Naturals pop-up forest in Times Square. Yes, forest!! It's the very first time a forest has been in Times Square since the Dutch first landed in New York a loooong time ago and we just had to stop by to check it out. Model and eco-activist Summer Rayne Oakes was on hand to talk about her involvement with the brand and what you can do to get green!

How did you get involved with Aveeno?Aveeno and I partnered together, partly because they wanted to bring me on as a sustainability consultant as well as a spokesperson for their Smart Essentials and Active Naturals line and Be An Active Natural campaign. Be An Active Natural is all about taking small steps to make a positive impact on our environment, and Aveeno is taking such steps in their projects. So today we built this forest in NYC, which is a really uncanny thing to do. We had the NYC Park Commissioner out here as well as pre-schoolers from Gwendolyn Bland Day Care in the Bronx!

What are some of your favorite eco-friendly fashion lines?
I do a line with Payless called Zoe & Zac, which is quite
fun because it's all about creating something that's accessible for
everyone and still fashion-forward. Working with them has been great. I
have some products here from Lara Miller, who has clothes that
you can wear in a lot of different ways—it's so versatile. I also just
finished doing the Uniform project, which is where you wear the same
little black dress for 30 days. I had my great design friends Carasan design the dress, and it had this awesome 50's style, "Mad Men" flare.

What are your favorite green beauty products?
It's been great working with Aveeno on the Smart Essentials line, and I especially love the Anti-Fatigue Eye Treatment—it's amazing. I also really love the brand Duchess Marden and Jurlique's Rosewater mist, which I carry with me whenever I'm flying.

What are some easy ways to go green?
One way is for people to recycle old iPhones and cell phones—you can
get money back. Just look up Green Tech Recycling on Google; their
website lets you type in the kind of phone or device you have and then
tells you how much money you can get for it. It's really good to do
electronic recycling with anything: old TVs, printers, even CDs!